Seeking Heaven on Earth

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When I come across the same quote twice in one week in very different circumstances, I try to pay attention because it’s possible that God is trying to tell me something. Usually I can discern at least something from the message, but my most recent experience leaves me scratching my head.

The quote I’m currently pondering is by Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite mystic who lived at the turn of the last century. I don’t know that I’d ever heard of her before last week, but a bit of research reveals many similarities between her and St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Both were French cloistered Carmelite nuns and mystics who died young. The two were contemporaries; St. Elizabeth died of Addison’s disease at the age of 26 in 1906 and St. Thérèse died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 in 1897.

They also shared a passion for the salvation of souls, and had similar last words: Elizabeth said, “I am going to light, to love, to life!” while Thérèse said, “My God, I love you!”

It’s possible that these last two similarities were influenced by the fact that Elizabeth had read Thérèse’s autobiography. With the brief amount of research I did, I have no proof to back up that supposition, but Dijon is only about 300 miles from Lisieux, and it’s well-known that Thérèse’s book was sent to other Carmelite convents with the news of her death and a request for prayers.

The first part of the quote I’m pondering was enclosed in a box of candy from the local Carmelites nuns: “I feel I have found heaven on earth, because heaven is God and God is in my soul.”

I didn’t give these words much thought when I read them, figuring they were based on Luke 17:21, where Jesus says, “For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.’”

That afternoon, however, I came across the expanded quote from Elizabeth in a completely different setting. It reads: “I feel I have found heaven on earth, because heaven is God and God is in my soul. The day I understood this a light went on inside me, and I want to whisper this secret to all those I love, so that they, too, in whatever circumstances, will cling increasingly to God.”

I spent more time on the quote the second time around because, as I said, having come across it twice in the period of a couple of hours and in disparate sources, I thought God might be trying to tell me something. Upon contemplation, I realized that the context of the quote from the Gospel of Luke is set against a question about the end times, while Elizabeth seems to be talking about an experience of heaven while she is still on earth. Now, the Catholic concept of heaven is “eternal life with God,” as the Catechism defines it. Her statement that “God is in my soul” also is in keeping with Catholic theology, which holds that the Blessed Trinity is united with the human soul.

We believe that eternal life won’t come until after we die, but if Elizabeth felt that she was living intimately with God each day, she could legitimately claim to have found heaven on earth. However, given that the first sentence of the quote seems to be merely a stated awareness of Catholic theology, I’m not sure what message I’m supposed to glean from it.

I talked over my puzzlement with a friend, who said perhaps the reason God put the quote in my path was to prompt me to share it with others, which I am happy to do. Afterward, though, I continued to ponder the quote, and had a final thought: If Elizabeth did in fact feel God’s company each day, I wish she had passed along the secret of how to do the same.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.